The Arkansas Advocate reports:

A central Arkansas county agreed this week to pay $275,000 to the former library director who was fired after speaking against local conservatives’ push to limit children’s access to books. Saline County announced Thursday it had reached a settlement with Patty Hector, who had been the county library’s executive director when she was fired in October 2023.

County Judge Matt Brumley’s firing power came from an ordinance approved by the all-Republican quorum court, which previously urged Hector to move books with “sexual content or imagery” out of children’s reach.

Hector alleged in her 2025 legal complaint that her firing was retaliatory and violated her First Amendment right to free speech.  U.S. District Judge James Moody signed off on the settlement Wednesday. Hector said she hoped the settlement would send a message to librarians and other public servants that their constitutional rights matter.

Read the full article.